A common apparatus used for irrigation of a garden is a soaker hose and/or sprinkler hose. Generally a soaker hose comprises a hollow conduit with a first end (hereafter sometimes referred to as the “supply end”) that can be attached to a water supply unit and a second distal end that can be selectively closed by use of an end cap. Alternatively, the second end can be linked to the supply side of a second soaker hose, which second soaker hose can have an end cap. The water runs into the supply end from a water spigot and through the soaker hose to the distal closed end of the hose where the end cap prevents the water from exiting the distal end if the end cap is installed at the second end of the soaker hose. When the exit end of the soaker hose is closed off by use of an end cap or any other means, the water within the hose exits through the numerous seep holes that traverse the walls of the hose. The water that exits the seep holes in the walls of the soaker hose drip into the ground beneath the soaker hose thereby providing irrigation to the plants growing in the proximity of the damped earth beneath the soaker hose.
A sprinkler hose operates in a similar matter except that the holes through the walls of a sprinkler hose are of such a size or number that the water can spray a distance from the hose. Henceforth, the term “soaker hose” shall include a sprinkler hose.
Often a soaker hose is used to water bushes or trees that are planted a short distance apart from each other. While the portion of the soaker hose that is placed near and/or around the bush or tree or vegetation will enable the ground there under to be irrigated, all the water that seeps through the hose portion that lies in between the plants leak into the ground where irrigation may not be required or even desired. Thus the water the leaks into this non irrigation area is wasted. This is because the water in the hose indiscriminately seeps through all of the holes along the length of the soaker hose and not just through the holes of the portions of the soaker hose that is adjacent to the vegetation intended by the user to be irrigated by use of the soaker hose.